Fran Cutler’s family has an attachment to the Wakefield area that goes back almost one hundred years. Like many of us, Fran considers Wakefield one of her “favourite villages in the whole world!”.
 
As a CBC employee for close to 30 years, her cottage on the Gatineau River in the Larrimac area and the surrounding Gatineau Hills always provided a respite from the demands of work.
 
“…It was always so relaxing and calming to get out on the trails to walk at a leisurely pace, not put too much effort into it … and getting together with friends because it wasn’t just the outdoor recreation and exercise, it was the social aspect that was so important.”
 
Now retired, she shares the trail experience with her fellow members of the Rideau Trail Club, embracing the opportunity to socialize with like minded people and the energizing effect the outings have for her. Sometimes their excursions have them travelling the trails around Wakefield. Fran has certainly witnessed the transformation that has taken place on the trails around the village….”the ones that have been developed from really old, very difficult to manage paths to very nicely groomed and maintained paths that the locals have worked so hard to create.” The improved accessibility and safety is very important to Fran as she navigates thru an increasingly more challenging vision impairment disability.  As her sight deteriorates, it’s the bird songs that might that keep calling her into the forests.
 
“I love the cardinals because the male sings different songs at different times of the day and chickadees of course, sing a different song at different times of the year. And warblers are really beyond me! I can’t distinguish one from another but it’s a beautiful sound. And then there’s the wonderful  what’s called the Canada bird – the white throated sparrow with a note that sounds like “…in Canada…”.
 
In Canada indeed. Listen to our full interview with Fran here:

​Kerry is one of those people who has fabricated a life for herself that has work and play co-existing in a beautiful symbiotic balance. She and her partner have lived in the Wakefield area for a number of years – their home nestled between the Gatineau River and the surrounding hills. Kerry is an instructional designer, and mostly works from home, which works perfectly well for her, as she finds her best thinking is done out in nature – either on the river or on the trails.
 
“I’m very fortunate…I have access to all the outside life that occurs around me…A lot of my creativity happens when I’m actually out in the forest or on the river.”
 
Sometimes her adventures include her grandchildren, who often visit. Kerry loves to take them on a hike up, up, up to the place that seems to them to be the top of the world!
 
“…when you reach the top we all just sit on the bench and look out, down the river and they just can’t believe that this is something they’ve succeeded at.”
 
Then there are the many other adventures that Kerry has had with lots of wildlife while out cycling the trails in the area. Some of you might find running in to bears a terrifying experience to say the least. Kerry considers it just part of the great experience:
 
“…its always this great adventure and I always have a great story to tell when I come back from my journeys out on the trails.”
 
Find out all about the creatures that play a role in her adventures by listening to the podcast!

Not that we’re giving his age away, but Nick remembers the days of his youth when there were no computers, and kids like him mostly spent all of their time outdoors. He still makes a point of getting out into the forest – both on and off the trails. Which might be the reason why he joined the SWT team a few years back. Since then, Nick has been a very valuable contributor to the group. Those beautiful bridges along the pathways? Those were built by Nick. And his involvement has certainly brought him to the belief that we need to do a better job of getting our youth out working on the trails – once they’re out there, they’ll realize just how great it is. And maybe, just for a minute or two, they'll forget all about their devices.

I, for one, can relate to Pip when she explains the security she feels when venturing out into a wilderness that is REALLY close to civilization. “Being from New Zealand and not being used to bears or things that might be out, these are great because they are closer to community."
 
Perhaps Pip’s biggest observation while out on the trails with her dog is the parallels that can be drawn between our personal growth and evolution and that of the nature around us.
 
“It’s a combination of things that are new, seedlings, treelings, things that are growing, things that are in their later stages and things that have died and are returning to the earth. You’re actually going thru a whole spectrum of life as you walk thru trails. So you see this eco system, but you also see life as it actually evolves for us as well.”
 
Listen to the full podcast by clicking the button below. 

Colin Bunge has been seeking adventures for quite some time. And he turned that passion into a career – teaching outdoor ed and running outdoor adventure programs for youth in the Western Quebec area.
 
“A few times a week, we’re out…on the trails and its just incredible to share these experiences, these physical experiences with the youth in the great outdoors where they’re running around, they’re having a great time, they’re not on their phones, they’re not worried about what they look like or who they’re chatting with. They’re just digging in, to climb a hill, to hike up a waterfall, or do all kinds of different activities and they’re just having a great, great time making memories.”
 
Colin’s family shares his passion for the great outdoors and spending time on trails. They recently returned from an adventure that took them to New Zealand and Africa where they certainly tested their skills on many different types of trails.
 
Back home, Colin perseveres in instilling an appreciation for everything nature has to offer in the young people he teaches.
 
“There’s so much to be discovered about life and the cycles of life and the web of life out here and also just about yourself, about how you’re connected to other people and the other things that are living out here. It’s a great opportunity to reflect, to develop your own strength and develop your own sense of self and connection to place.”
 
A true testament to his success is the fact that both his teenage children are also hoping to pursue careers in outdoor guiding and adventure.
 
“…they love doing these activities, they’re both pursuing careers in these activities, in guiding in the outdoors and sharing the outdoors with more people, whether its camp counselling or guiding adults or youth. It’s exciting to see that and its exciting to see them pass on the love for the outdoors that they have grown into, to share that with other people…”.
 
When the passion is so great it clearly passes on from one generation to the next.
 
Hear all of Colin’s reflections on the importance of trails for our communities and our youth by going to the ‘Our Trails, Our Stories’ podcast. 

We know, by the visits we get here and elsewhere, that many of you love trails. Yup, you do! Even if you’re not frequently using the trails, it looks like you simply love the idea of those trails being there, waiting, for when you’re ready to strap on your hiking boots. Which is why we want to make sure the trails are ready for that moment. Which is why we need your support! And because we and our community hold that support in such high regard, we’re able to offer up some pretty special gifts for our June ‘Our Stories, Our Trails’ Fundraising Campaign raffle…
 
Go to our Donate Page and be part of our Success Story Today!

Bodi Delgrosse would choose a forest over a desk any day so it was a definite yes when his college classmate, Adrian Vaillancourt, asked him, in the spring of 2018, if he wanted a summer job working on the Wakefield trails.
 
“I first got connected working in Wakefield Trails at a school in Aylmer, a welding school. I met a man named Adrian. He asked me if I wanted a job this summer and I said ‘Ya, sure!’. It was good. I worked with him all summer there…we did a lot of hard work.”
 
This summer, Bodi’s back at it, but working solo without his friend and workmate to keep him company. In October 2018, on a beautiful fall afternoon, Adrian was headed home, riding the old highway from Gatineau back to Wakefield on his motorcycle and looking forward to the upcoming weekend when he was suddenly and tragically killed in a collision involving two other cars. As Bodi continues as a Wakefield Trail Employee, he reflects on the work he and Adrian did together.
 
“There’s lots of places…that me and Adrian worked on at the same time…it brings back lots of memories. I can see his work and my work too…sometimes it’d be like ‘I wish I had Adrian here to help me with this’ or something but, you know, he’s not…it just makes it a little harder….” 

[Ed Note - I think we all say that]
 
Despite the sadness that occasionally tinges his time on the trails, Bodi is certainly an individual who fully embraces the great outdoors:
 
“I’m from the country so I can understand it’s important to keep a good mind about nature…if you live in the city…it’s easy to forget that you live on a green planet…if you’re constantly surrounded by cement all the time and streets and malls…it’s easy to forget what type of planet you’re on…it’s important to get back to it.”
 
You can hear the podcast version of our interview with Bodi by clicking the button below. 

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